OHM DarkEnergy Spaceplane

[Buck Rogers]

A little bug I was reminded of testing the eagle
HUD visible through walls in external view

Do you know of a solution for this?

Edit: On further testing it seems to be a graphics resource issue and not a bug. it only happens with the Darkenergy spaceplane, and with 8 S1999 eagles in one .scn (single eagle is ok)
I guess your addon is a little resource hungry
But with such an exceptional addon that's understandable, a very comprehensive well made mod. Look forward to trying the lander soon

 

[Max-Q]

A little bug I was reminded of testing the eagle
HUD visible through walls in external view
View attachment 37814
Do you know of a solution for this?

Edit: On further testing it seems to be a graphics resource issue and not a bug. it only happens with the Darkenergy spaceplane, and with 8 S1999 eagles in one .scn (single eagle is ok)
I guess your addon is a little resource hungry
But with such an exceptional addon that's understandable, a very comprehensive well made mod. Look forward to trying the lander soon

It's a bug because of the way I made the HUD meshes.
I think I know a fix, I don't know when I'll be able to get around to it, IRL stuff has kinda taken over my Orbiter addon dev time sadly

 

[Buck Rogers]

It's a bug because of the way I made the HUD meshes

Oh, that's interesting please tell. I just had this same problem with the Thunder Fighter (and that's defineately not a too big msh, features problem), any help appreciated.

IRL stuff has kinda taken over my Orbiter addon dev time sadly

Can sorrowfuly sing a similar sad song, your Orbiter projects are very impressive though, I hope you find clear skies for many future launches

 

[Max-Q]

Oh, that's interesting please tell. I just had this same problem with the Thunder Fighter (and that's defineately not a too big msh, features problem), any help appreciated.

I think it's because the mesh that has the HUD group is rendered in external view.
If I move only the HUD displays to a VC rendered only mesh it should solve the issue. Haven't tested it yet though

 

[Buck Rogers]

I think it's because the mesh that has the HUD group is rendered in external view.
If I move only the HUD displays to a VC rendered only mesh it should solve the issue. Haven't tested it yet though

Was one of the things I considered, I have a single msh too (didn't see any advantages for my project).
Wierd thing is I've encountered this issue with the Eagle (seperate VC), but only with several vessels in one .scn?
Thanks for the lead, will experiment further

 

[Mandela Effect]

What an incredible addon, so good! The virtual cockpit is awesome.

However there are a couple of bugs I've noticed.

1. I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be any sound from the rocket engines right on take off. I can faintly hear it after the rocket gets a bit of altitude, but only in third person.
   
   1st person / in cockpit its totally muted, doesn't matter the altitude, earthbound or in space.
   
   Main engines and RCS emit a sound but that's it. I am using Orbiter Sound 5.0.
   
   
2. When I start a scenario pre-launch, there is always a large yellow rectangle at the bottom of the screen obstructing the view. It eventually goes away... no clue what it is however, texture problem?

Edit:

I hear the rocket engine sounds fully when I switch vehicles, from the Dark Energy Spaceplane directly to the rocket, then I hear everything the moment the engines ignite. I realized this when I was manually tuning the rocket to a different heading to rendezvous with a different vessel in orbit and I manually took off.

 

[K_Jameson]

So, basically, a modern interpretation of the Apollo-Saturn stack. Seems very, very good! Looking forward to try It!

 

[K_Jameson]

Well, that lander, particularly the ascent stage, is suspiciously similar to the defunct Acturus Lander realized by my fellow developer Fausto at Forum Orbiter Italia, back in the day. Similar problems often leads to similar solutions.

 

[Tiny_Bob]

What an incredible addon, so good! The virtual cockpit is awesome.

However there are a couple of bugs I've noticed.

1. I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be any sound from the rocket engines right on take off. I can faintly hear it after the rocket gets a bit of altitude, but only in third person.
   
   1st person / in cockpit its totally muted, doesn't matter the altitude, earthbound or in space.
   
   Main engines and RCS emit a sound but that's it. I am using Orbiter Sound 5.0.
   
   
2. When I start a scenario pre-launch, there is always a large yellow rectangle at the bottom of the screen obstructing the view. It eventually goes away... no clue what it is however, texture problem?

Edit:

I hear the rocket engine sounds fully when I switch vehicles, from the Dark Energy Spaceplane directly to the rocket, then I hear everything the moment the engines ignite. I realized this when I was manually tuning the rocket to a different heading to rendezvous with a different vessel in orbit and I manually took off.

could you send a screenshot of what this yellow rectangle is?

 

[Mandela Effect]

could you send a screenshot of what this yellow rectangle is?

 

[Tiny_Bob]

thats where the countdown clock should be. maybe a missing font? @Max-Q do you know if DE requires any non standard fonts?

 

[Max-Q]

What an incredible addon, so good! The virtual cockpit is awesome.

However there are a couple of bugs I've noticed.

1. I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be any sound from the rocket engines right on take off. I can faintly hear it after the rocket gets a bit of altitude, but only in third person.
   
   1st person / in cockpit its totally muted, doesn't matter the altitude, earthbound or in space.
   
   Main engines and RCS emit a sound but that's it. I am using Orbiter Sound 5.0.
   
   
2. When I start a scenario pre-launch, there is always a large yellow rectangle at the bottom of the screen obstructing the view. It eventually goes away... no clue what it is however, texture problem?

Edit:

I hear the rocket engine sounds fully when I switch vehicles, from the Dark Energy Spaceplane directly to the rocket, then I hear everything the moment the engines ignite. I realized this when I was manually tuning the rocket to a different heading to rendezvous with a different vessel in orbit and I manually took off.

Ok, so all of the sound related stuff is an OrbiterSound limitation unfortunately, I tried to come up with a workaround but nothing seemed to work.

The yellow rectangle is related to a graphics glitch in some way, it was first observed on BrianJ's Falcon 9 addon, with which DarkEnergy/Ion 4 share code. I am honestly not sure of the solution, but I believe Brian arrived at one for the Falcon 9, which should also solve this issue. I'd suggest digging around in that addon's thread to see if there's a fix.

Well, that lander, particularly the ascent stage, is suspiciously similar to the defunct Acturus Lander realized by my fellow developer Fausto at Forum Orbiter Italia, back in the day. Similar problems often leads to similar solutions.

View attachment 41519

Oh wow that does look remarkable similar! Funny how the design process works sometimes haha
Was this addon ever released? I'd love to check it out

 

[Max-Q]

Also, Merry Christmas, Happy 2025, and safe spaceflights to you all!



(I know it's after Christmas, but I said it anyway)

 

[K_Jameson]

Oh wow that does look remarkable similar! Funny how the design process works sometimes haha
Was this addon ever released? I'd love to check it out

Sadly, it was never released. The Italian group disbanded (while not officially) some years ago and the project remained unfinished. I was in charge of the descent stage mesh and all the weight, fuel, delta V calculations, by the way. Currently I'm at work to a new addon (link in the signature) that includes a lander. In the Forum Orbiter Italia group I was a designer and modeler, not the programmer, and to this day I am not able to program at good levels (I dislike it), so this project will remains pretty crude and simple, compared to yours, unless in future I can "hire" a programmed in order to expand the work.

 

[K_Jameson]

Oh wow that does look remarkable similar! Funny how the design process works sometimes haha
Was this addon ever released? I'd love to check it out

Sadly, it was never released. The Italian group disbanded (while not officially) some years ago and the project remained unfinished. I was in charge of the descent stage mesh and all the weight, fuel, delta V calculations, by the way. Currently I'm at work to a new addon (link in the signature) that includes a lander. In the Forum Orbiter Italia group I was a designer and modeler, not the programmer, and to this day I am not able to program at good levels (I dislike it), so this project will remains pretty crude and simple, compared to yours, unless in future I can "hire" a programmed in order to expand the work.

 

[Mandela Effect]

Ok, so all of the sound related stuff is an OrbiterSound limitation unfortunately, I tried to come up with a workaround but nothing seemed to work.

The yellow rectangle is related to a graphics glitch in some way, it was first observed on BrianJ's Falcon 9 addon, with which DarkEnergy/Ion 4 share code. I am honestly not sure of the solution, but I believe Brian arrived at one for the Falcon 9, which should also solve this issue. I'd suggest digging around in that addon's thread to see if there's a fix.



Oh wow that does look remarkable similar! Funny how the design process works sometimes haha
Was this addon ever released? I'd love to check it out

Thanks for the feedback. None of these bugs are game breaking so it's not big deal.

Again, it's an incredible addon you made, thank you for creating it!

 

[Mandela Effect]

@Max-Q , with how awesome this addon is, have you ever thought of creating a Delta Glider style version of the Dark Energy space plane?

And what I mean is, the ability to take off on a runway and fly right into space or just cruise in the atmosphere. Also hover thrusters.

In essence a Delta Glider "clone" but with that Dark Energy flavor such as a beautiful virtual cockpit, and detailed systems and physics.

 

[K_Jameson]

I'm not entirely familiar with Dark Energy (btw, I think that tecnical details of the vehicle and launchers would be welcome in the addon) but it seems realized as a fairly realistic vehicle. I think that switching to a Delta Glider style would be a step backwards.

 

[Mandela Effect]

I'm not entirely familiar with Dark Energy (btw, I think that tecnical details of the vehicle and launchers would be welcome in the addon) but it seems realized as a fairly realistic vehicle. I think that switching to a Delta Glider style would be a step backwards.

How is a Delta Glider style craft a step backwards?

In my post I was implying an entirely new type of craft, not transforming the current Dark Energy into something different. The current way Dark Energy exists is awesome and shouldn't be touched.

 

[Urwumpe]

How is a Delta Glider style craft a step backwards?

Well, it is way more unrealistic and simplified. Physically, it is fueled by fairy dust, not a fusion or nuclear powered engine. The aerodynamics are just subsonic with some wave drag, in reality, the DG would be way less tame at high speeds (but it should fly pretty well there, with FBW and treating it like a raw egg). Also, it has an extremely low weight for its size, in reality in could not land on Venus, because it would just float high above the surface.

So if you want a more realistic spaceplane or a more challenging complex vehicle, the DG would be a bad role model, even though many created intermediate versions of it that are a bit less unrealistic and a bit more complex.